News of 2017

Institute of Management, Nirma University has organised an event – Aarohan 2017. It is believed that in the midst of chaos, learning takes place. The world today is in a state of chaos and it is the youth which has an ample number of opportunities to learn and achieve greatness. Aarohan is one such Conclave to give the students an insight into reality was organised by the BBA Co-curricular committee 'AdityaVat' on December 21-22, 2017 on the theme of 'VUCA- Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity' which was introduced by Prof. Sapna Parashar, the Chairperson.

The first speaker for this conclave was Mr. Swarup Pandya, Associate start-up society, CIIE. The session was a dialogue conversation and involved both the speaker and the students where the students asked various questions to Mr. Pandya about the changes taking place in the business environment and how various business enterprises can succeed by making effective use of the government strategies like 'Start-up India' and 'Make in India' mission.

The second session saw the CEO of Molkem Ltd. Mr. Preet Shah sharing his views and experiences on VUCA. Mr. Sanjay Chakraborty, founder and CEO of EssKsse graced the third session on the first day. He emphasised on the fact through videos and presentations that we're who we are and how the management and marketing have evolved and the fact that the consumers are like god for the business firms. Moreover he showed the students the sharp contrast between male and female on how they react to different market situations.

Institute of Management, Nirma University organised One-Day Symposium on December 19, 2017 with a view to address the questions and doubts that arise when they think of pursuing their career in MBA. The symposium would also focus on perks that the course offers to its students and the reason why they should do this course. The speakers were Shri Arks Srinivas, Shri R Balasunder and Shri Varun Gupta. The event was coordinated by Shri Sameer Pingle and it was graced by the presence of Dr Mallikarjun M, Director - IMNU.

Institute of Pharmacy, Nirma University celebrated Gujarat State Pharmacy Council (GSPC) sponsored National Pharmacy Week Celebration from December 18-22, 2017. The event was inaugurated by Dr. Jolly Parikh, Professor and Head, Department of Pharmaceutics, A.R. College of Pharmacy, Vallabh Vidyanagar and Nominee, GSPC on December 18, 2017. She highlighted various means of creating awareness of pharmacy profession and role of pharmacist in healthcare system in her address. Shri MontuKumar Patel, President, GSPC informed the activities carried out by GSPC for creating public awareness in relation to pharmacy profession. Dr.Tejal Mehta, Professor and Head, Department of Pharmaceutics, Institute of Pharmacy, Nirma University gave introductory remark highlighting importance of Pharmacy profession in healthcare along with significance of National Pharmacy Week. The function ended with vote of Thanks by Dr.Renuka Mishra. The National Pharmacy week celebration will include events like Extempore, Elocution, Expert lecture, Health check-up and awareness camp.

Nirma University organised IMMUNOCON - 2017 from 14 - 16 December 2017 with the theme - Immunology of Infectious Diseases where around 300 participants registered. The conference was organized with an intention to provide a platform to researchers in the field of immunology to deliberate and exchange the scientific ideas, and develop in-depth understanding on the issues related to innate and adaptive immunity, drug development and vaccination. This conference provided an exciting opportunity for delegates to network and share knowledge in their research domains. The program included plenary sessions, panel discussions, oral and poster presentations, and socialisations. The event brought the eminent Immunologists and enthusiastic researchers on the same page to discuss and explore immune regulation of various diseases to develop a new strategy for treatment. Experts like Dr. G P Talwar, Dr. N K Ganguly and Dr. D N Rao graced the event with their presence.

Nirma University team participated in the West Zone Inter University Kho-Kho (Women) Tournament 2017-18 held from 30th November to 1st December 2017 at Gujarat Vidyapith, Sadra, TA Dist. Gandhinagar.
Shri Bhavesh Parekh, Chief Coordinator, Students' Welfare Activities and Ms. Drashti Patel, Lab. Asst., Institute of Pharmacy were the Team Manager of our university team.
In this tournament, the first match was held on November 30, 2017 with Goa University, Goa. The second match was held on December 1, 2017 with Gondwana University, Gadchiroli. In both of the matches our team was qualified. The third match on December 1, 2017 was with P. D. Upadhyay Shekhawati University, Sikar, in which our team did not qualify. Students from various institutes of our University participated in this tournament.

Institute of Technology, Nirma University, Ahmedabad organized its 6th Nirma University International Conference on Engineering NUiCONE 2017 on 23rd November 2017. The inaugural ceremony was attended by eminent academicians, faculty members and students from various educational institutions and representatives from the industry.

The inaugural ceremony started with lighting the lamp of knowledge. Dr. Alka Mahajan, Director, Institute of Technology, Nirma University delivered the welcome address and congratulated the entire team of NUiCONE 2017, authors, delegates, sponsors, reviewers, volunteers and the management. The inaugural ceremony was graced by the Chief Guest, Padma Vibhushan Shri. Dr. Anil Kakodkar, President, National Academy of Sciences, India and the Guest of Honour, Dr. A. Jayaraman, Vice President, International Committee on Space Research-COSPAR, Paris. The conference chair, Dr. B. A. Modi, briefed about NUiCONE 2017 and mentioned the need of taking green initiatives, pollution control and its impact on the environment for the societal benefit. The Chief Guest, Dr. Anil Kakodkar, in his speech mentioned the challenges that are being faced by rural India and need to improve their quality of life. The education to every individual, identifying the potentials within, dissemination of knowledge and creation of values are the biggest challenges at the forefront. There is a need to increase the investment in science for the economic development of the country and further increasing conversion rates to be comparable among the leading countries in the world. The larger market of future lies in rural India which gives opportunities to the entrepreneurs to develop low cost products. He also suggested that the only solution to these critical problems is to develop a conducive innovation ecosystem in which all the stakeholders need to participate equally.

Nirma University celebrated its Twenty Fourth Convocation on November 6, 2017. The Chief Guest during the occasion was Shri Narendra K Verma, MD and CEO, ONGC Videsh Ltd. In his inspirational speech, he stressed on the importance of positively working in the society and use the energy wisely. He talked about the principle of SEEK where S stands for Skills, two E stand for Employability and Entrepreneurship, K stands for Knowledge. He also quoted Shri APJ Abdul Kalam saying - Learning gives creativity, creativity leads to thinking, thinking provides knowledge, knowledge makes you great.

During the convocation, the students were conferred degrees by Dr Karsanbhai K. Patel, the President of the University. Dr Patel delivered the Presidential address on the occasion.

Nirma University is celebrating Ramzat 2017 - a Ras Garba Mahotsav on 7th October, 2017 from 7 pm to 10:30 pm for the faculty members, staff and students. The venue for the event will be the Cricket Ground, Nr. NIM Canteen, Nirma University.

The Higher & Technical Education Department, Government of Gujarat, in collaboration with Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd., are organising "National Student Startup & Innovation Summit- Gujarat" on October 5, 2017 in Ahmedabad. The conference aims to create a knowledge sharing platform in which innovators from both national and international higher education institutes can participate and showcase their innovations in presence of policy makers, experts and investors.

A seminar on 'Youth Awakening' was held on 22-8-2017 at 2:00 pm, Seminar Hall, Block-A.
BK Savitriben and BK Ninaben delivered a lecture on the subject and showed a video also.
About 250 students from all institutes attended the Seminar.
The seminar mainly focused on the power of positive thinking.
At the end, the students had to do an exercise for positive attitude.
After the Seminar from 3:15 pm to 4:00 pm 'Bus Exhibition' was held near Block-K. More than 400 students enjoyed it.
Team members from Brahma Kumari explained to the students about the positivity through different posters. Students showed keen interest in it.
We are very thankful to Shri K. K. Patel - Vice President, Dr. Anup Singh - Director General, Shri D. P. Chhaya - Director (A. & G.A.), Shri G Ramachandran Nair - Executive Registrar, all Head of the Institutions, Shri Ashishbhai Desai - Hon. HOD, Students' Activities and all Coordinators of Cultural Activities for their support to make this program successful.

Nirma University celebrated 71st Independence Day Flag Hoisting Ceremony with high spirits of nationalism and patriotism. The tri-colour flag was hoisted by Dr. Pankaj Shah, an Oncology specialist and an advisor at Gujarat Cancer Research Institute, Ahmedabad. His inspiring speech was truly relevant and focused on the importance of this day and how our generation can contribute towards development and growth of our nation. The ceremony was attended by our faculty members, staff as well as students with pride.

Deshraag - On August 11, 2017 Nirma Universtiy organised a patriotic song competition in Institute of Management Auditorium and the event proved to be a huge success.
The participants displayed never-seen-before sentiments on the stage singing songs that reverberated, infusing nationalistic spirit in the audience.
The event promised of the days full of glory and grandeur!

On 21st June 2017 Nirma University faculty and staff members celebrated International Day of Yoga by participating in a rejuvenating yoga session in the morning and it was truly an inspiring act. All were gathered on the ground next to the Institute of Management. The participants enjoyed it followed by the message that they would contribute towards creating a world full of peace and harmony. Let's hope that they all continue to be physically healthy and aware of their fitness and wellbeing.

Nirma University, Ahmedabad is coming up with a Sculpture Park on its premises and the work has already started. As an indigenous and unique initiative Nirma University has invited near about 20 sculptors across India to showcase their skills and create rock sculptures to be placed on its campus at various selected locations. This one of its kind concept is brain child of Shri Dr Karsanbhai Patel, Chairman of the Nirma Group and has been aimed at providing the students a campus and learning center which radiates with inspiration and enlightenment. The artists have been called by the activity incharge Mr. Surya Goswami – a wel-known sculptor himself.

Artists like Atul Padia, Krishna Padia, Rajesh Parmar, Sangam Vankhede and Sanjay Savaliya from Baroda, Nandu Rathwa, Renu Bala Kashyap from Punjab, Sunil Kumar from Banaras, Pradip Jogdand and Namdev Kakade from Mumbai, Vipul Raval and Alay Mistry from Ahmedabad, Nemaram from Rajasthan, Durgesh Pawar from MP have come to beautify the Nirma University campus. The sculpting work is at present in progress and everyone on campus is eager to see how the artists are going to uncover the hidden marvels lying within the square rocks.

The Research Orientation Programme, an annual programme for faculty members was inaugurated on June 05, 2017. The orientation programme is divided in three phases with an emphasis on purpose and Importance of research, reading - writing skills and tools, publications – projects and patents, and Methodology to carry out a Research. The orientation programme aims not only at delivering the content, but to help participants in research, to develop the thirst of inquiry and make them work towards achieving their research goals effectively.

The inauguration ceremony began with the welcome address by Dr Dhaval Pujara, i/c Director, Research and Innovation, Nirma University. Dr. Pujara briefed the audience about the programme, the purpose and its restructuring. The Chief Guest of the programme Dr. D. Chenna Reddy, Dean (R&D), Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar addressed the gathering with his inspiring words and motivated all to be passionate for the fruitful research. He suggested to continuously ask “why”, which will lead to a meaningful outcomes. He urged the aspiring researchers to be more inquisitive and focused.

For the research orientation programme, 23 eminent speakers have consented to deliver talks on various research related topics and will have 02 hands – on workshops. The phase – II and phase – III are the assignment work and research related tasks respectively to be accomplished by the participants.

Academic Development and Research (ADR) Cell Nirma University is organizing a four week long Faculty Induction Programme during May 29, 2017 to June 23, 2017. About fifty participants from the seven constituent Institutes under Nirma University are undergoing the Induction Programme. The primary focus of the induction program is to discuss the nuances of effective classroom teaching and pedagogy, ways to make the classroom more interesting and interactive, guidelines for enhancing the personality and tips for improving capabilities for resource awareness and knowledge generation. Accordingly, the program is designed in two phases. The first phase is of three weeks (May 29-June 17, 2017) and will include sessions on: Effective classroom teaching and pedagogy, Personality development, Know your University. The second phase will be of one week (June 19-23, 2017) and will offer discipline specific skill enhancement for the participants under the guidance of a mentor from their respective Institute. The programme content will be delivered by around fifty five eminent resource persons through combination of theory/counselling, practical/hands-on-session, etc. The induction program was inaugurated on May 29, 2017 in the august presence of Dr. Pankaj Chandra, Vice Chancellor of Ahmedabad University and Dr. Anup Singh, Director General, Nirma Universtiy. The inaugural ceremony began with a welcome address by Dr. Dhaval Pujara, I/C Director, Research and Innovation, Nirma University. It was followed by inaugural address by Dr. Pankaj Chandra. Dr. Chandra discussed various aspects of teaching learning process giving references from his own life experiences. In his own words – “Teachers are the souls of any Institute” and “Entrepreneurs and Gatekeepers” of education. He advised to integrate research and education so that they become inseparable and enriching. Dr. Anup Singh in his presidential address emphasized upon bringing scientific attitude in teaching-learning process by questioning every learnings that one does. The inaugural function ended with a vote of thanks by Dr. Santosh Vora.

The National Science Day is celebrated every year to widely spread a message about importance of science in daily life. This year, Nirma University celebrated the same on February 28, 2017 under the national theme of "Science and Technology for Specially Abled Persons" by arranging lecture series based on the theme by (i) Prof P. C. Kesavan, Distinguished Fellow, M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai (ii) Dr. Madhu Singh , Director, B M Institute of Mental Health, Ahmedabad. Also, the exhibitions of student projects were arranged by ITNU, ISNU and IPNU throughout the day.

Nirma University celebrated the 68th Republic Day with great fervour and patriotism. The chief guest during the occasion was Dr. Anup K. Singh, Director General. In his address after unfurling the national flag at the university, he expressed happiness on the progress of the nation and motivated the people present to strive for innovation and invention and stressed that one should endeavour to better oneself.

The flag hoisting ceremony was also attended by Shri D. P. Chhaya, Director (A&GA); Mr. G. Ramchandran Nair, Executive Registrar; Heads of the constituent Institutes of the University; faculty and staff members and the students in large numbers.